WELLINGTON Chess Club hosted Weston in a West Somerset League Division Three match. Once again there was a magnificent turnout of Wellington members with a really good atmosphere at the club.

Wellington are always at a disadvantage in the Somerset Leagues as whenever they play league matches they always play teams from larger towns such as Taunton or Yeovil with a larger population - as were last week’s opponents, Weston.

Accordingly, this inevitably means that Wellington’s opponents are graded much higher and last week was no exception with Wellington significantly outgraded on every board. However, Wellington’s players are made of stern stuff and don’t let the grading differences unsettle them and last week’s team played with determination, refusing to be concerned about the grading gap.

A few years ago in this situation this type of match would have been an easy win for the opposition but not last week. The only similarity with the old Wellington was that no Wellington player won on the night. The big difference was that nobody lost either, meaning the fixture ended in a draw.

Wellington rested Alan Stonebridge who has had a very busy league season. So John Jeremiah had to play on board 1 against Weston’s top player. John has had an excellent season so far and maintained his good form with a heartening stubborn performance to earn a draw which backed up team captain David Smith’s draw on board 4. David’s draw was agreed with both players having just a rook and two pawns.

Chris Montag was on board 2 for Wellington. Chris is a recent recruit to the club and this is his first league season. However he has taken the heightened tension of league chess in his stride and put in another fine performance to gain his draw. This put all the pressure on Jon Kerr whose game would determine the match result. John, who recently nearly, and should have, lost a club championship match to 10 year old Eric Wall, this time played his best game of the season with total commitment. He finally accepted an offer of a draw from his opponent in a tricky endgame situation to end the match all square on the night.

Wellington maintained their second spot in the league behind champions elect Taunton Bishops.